By Terry Miller
In this 2020 race, locally and nationally we’ve seen muckraking attacks, both figurative and literal, and nobody knows where it’ll end. Despite the seemingly endless attacks, voters made educated decisions.
The big surprise of the night, of course, was the huge comeback of Joe Biden as well as Bernie Sanders’ win in the Golden State.
However, there was an added twist nationally and locally when many of the new voting machines broke down adding to the long wait times for voters who waited until Election Day to cast their vote. In Pasadena and Monrovia, voters reported waiting several hours in some locations and in Texas, voters were still casting their ballots long after the polls closed due to the excessive lines.
We’ve seen some humor, love and passion — especially locally. For example, Chris Shevlin donned colorful sandwich boards replete with lights as he walked Foothill Boulevard every night for his wife. Becky Shevlin easily managed to keep here seat on Monrovia City Council.
After the recent week’s bear debacle, where news helicopters awoke the community at 5 a.m. just for a bear sighting, candidate for Monrovia council and local realtor Donna Baker enlisted the help of friends on Facebook to wear a bear outfit while toting her campaign signs around.
Monrovia Results
Despite long lines at Monrovia Public Library and numerous election station breakdowns, voters turned out Super Tuesday to re-elect Monrovia incumbents.
Mayor Tom Adams, council members Becky Shevlin and Gloria Grudgington swept new contenders’ challenges under the bus in Monrovia’s municipal election on March 3.
Adams received 52.08 percent of the vote versus newcomer Melissa Taylor’s 45.31 percent.
Council challenger and local realtor Donna Baker received 24 percent of the vote.
Pasadena Results
At press time, it looks like there will be a runoff for the mayoral position at Pasadena City Hall.
Councilmember Victor M. Gordo was at approximately 46 percent of the vote at 9 a.m., giving Mayor Terry Tornek a run for his money with 42 percent of votes tallied. At press time the margin is narrow but Gordo is in the lead with 10,702 votes.
Felicia Williams received 51.06 percent for District 2. Gene Masuda took a healthy win at 60.69 percent for District 4. Steve Madison was re-elected with almost 53 percent of the vote in District 6.
Problems Experienced
There were the few reports of stolen campaign signs in Pasadena and San Gabriel but for the most part, candidates we spoke to were more concerned with the vitriol on the internet.
While maliciousness is not uncommon during elections, the temper tantrums posted on some Facebook pages is stunning. One voter complained that she wasn’t allowed to show her ID before voting; to which one replied: “That’s because the pos (sic) democrats (sic) need the illegal votes.”
Voting was slow, Monday morning in Monrovia. The colorful new digital voting machines seemed to be a surprise to some. However, there were plenty of election workers on hand in the Monrovia Community Center Monday morning to assist voters through the process. One simply taps the Ballot Marking Device (BMD) and then selects the preferred language. From there you insert the ballot, make selection(s), review and you’re finished. The library told a different story of long lines and broken machines.
Arcadia’s municipal election is April 14.
